Shamanism (samanjiao)

Shamanism (samanjiao) is a folk belief activity developed on the basis of primitive beliefs. The pen ~ fun ~ Ge www.biquge.info spread among many ethnic groups of the Manchu-Tungus, Mongolian and Turkic language families of the Altaic language family in the northeast and northwest border areas of China, and the Oroqen, Evenki, Hezhen and Daur peoples still preserved their faith in the early 50s of the 20th century. It has had a significant impact on the production, life and social customs of these ethnic groups. Because the Tungusic language called shamans shamans, hence the title. Shamans were once believed to have the ability to control the weather, prophecy, dream interpretation, astrology, and travel to heaven or hell. Shamanic traditions began in prehistoric times and spread all over the world. Shamanism is most worshipped in the Volga River valley, in the areas inhabited by the Finn race, in Eastern Siberia and Western Siberia.

Chinese shamanism originated from the Dongyi-Jiuli-Chiyou tribe, after the Hanquan War, moved south to the barbarian, moved north to Hu, and now there are shamanic cultural relics in the customs of ethnic minorities in the north and south.

In the god-jumping rituals of the shamans of various ethnic groups in Northeast China, although the shamans of different ethnic groups have different procedures, and even different clans, the basic procedure is exactly the same: invite the gods - make sacrifices to the gods; séance - calling for the arrival of the gods with drum language; Receiving the gods - the shaman speaks on behalf of the gods after the gods possess the body; Send the gods away - send the gods away. In this way, inviting the gods (sacrificial sacrifices), séance (removing the soul), receiving the gods (relying on the spirit), and sending the gods constitute the basic structure of the shamanic rituals of the Altaic peoples.

Shamanism establishes various specific beliefs and worship objects in religious consciousness, and establishes a pattern of religious behavior between these objects, such as communication, use, prayer, worship, or defense, expulsion, and fighting, and the social organization in which the shaman serves, restricts and regulates the common beliefs and various religious behaviors of the society, determines the social role and social role of the shaman, and uses them to serve the real social life order and social organization system. Therefore, shamanism should be regarded as a social and cultural system that takes belief concepts and objects of worship as the core, the customary religious experience of shamans and ordinary believers, standardized beliefs and worship behaviors, and blood or regional relations as the form of activities.

Shamanism in a narrow sense is the belief of the Altaic language family, such as Uygur, Kazakh, Tatar, Mongolian, Xibe and other ethnic groups, and its beliefs are mainly animism, ancestor worship and nature worship. The basic characteristics of shamanism are that there are no ancestors, no teachings, worship of multiple gods, no organization, no fixed temple churches, and no specialized clergy. The main activity of shamanism is the dancing of gods. Another distinctive feature of shamanism is that most of the shamans are women.

The definition of shamanism is basically characterized by two characteristics:

1. Define features

(1) Consciousness transformation

Consciousness Transformation: In the shamanic context, consciousness transformation is the ecstasy state, which Mirceaeliade argues, like death, implies mutation, in which a bridge emerges between the ordinaryreality and the non-ordinaryreality. The word ecstasy is derived from the Greek word ekstasis, which literally means to be outside (tobeplaced) or to be placed (tobeplaced), which means a state outside or beyond oneself, that is, beyond ordinary reality, to be able to communicate with the supernormal. In shamanism, the supernatural process of this state of consciousness transformation is generally called a shamanic journey;

(2) Healing ability

Healing ability: Whether the shaman gains knowledge or power, the knowledge or power as information is healing and can be combined with other healing methods, and the healing guidance usually includes the healing method and the decisions of the elven assistant. The object of the shaman's healing is not only oneself or others, but also the earth or the world; Shamanic healing encompasses physical, physical, mental, and spiritual aspects. More simply, the meaning of shamanism lies in its healing function, whether it is the treatment of illness or the transformation of consciousness, the purpose of shamanism is to maintain health and promote soundness, as mentioned above, the so-called soundness refers not only to the soundness of human beings, nature and the relationship between humans and nature, but also to the exploration of human potential, the fulfillment of the self or the realization of the greater self.

2. Worldview

In the same vein as the aforementioned Mother Earth's evergreen spirituality or animism, the shamanic worldview can be boiled down to three points:

(1) All things are alive;

(2) all things are interconnected;

(3) All things are sacred.

3. The concept of soul

It is believed that all kinds of things in the world have souls, and the blessings and misfortunes brought to people by changes in nature are all manifestations of the will of various spirits, ghosts, and gods.

Shamanism believes that people have several souls. The Hezhe people believe that there are three souls:

(1) The Soul of Life (斡仁)

The Soul of Life (斡仁). Given by the God of life, it is always with the life of man, and when he dies, he leaves the body forever and disappears.

(2) The Soul of Thought (Hani)

The Soul of Thought (Hani). As a person waking up in his thoughts and dreams, it is a temporary retreat from physical and other soul encounters. When a person dies, it does not disappear, and it is necessary to ask the shaman to send it to the underworld, so as not to cause trouble in the world and harm people and animals.

(3) Reincarnated Soul (Fagaku)

Reincarnated Soul (Fagaku). It is given by the god of rebirth, and after death, according to the conduct of the person before death, or reincarnated as a human being, or reincarnated as an animal or animal, women are infertile or miscarried, and it is believed that they do not have a reincarnated soul or that the soul is taken. The spirits heard only their voices, but not their forms.

4. Worship nature

Shamanism often incorporates fire and worships nature.

(1) Fire worship

Worship fire. It is believed that fire comes from the heavenly realm, which is the most sacred, clean, and kind, and can wash away all filth, drive away demons, and ask questions and blame, etc., and that no religious ritual can be separated from fire, and all kinds of sacrifices must be offered to the god of fire first. The Yakuts believed that only fire made of flint was sacred and pure. The Altai people prayed to the fire: You are part of the sun and the moon. The first thing the Evenki bride does when she marries into her husband's house is to bow down to her husband's fire and introduce herself to the fire god of her husband's family. The Oroqen people call the god of fire "Piercing Barukan", the legend is that she is an old woman, who offends her will not be able to light the fire, so it is forbidden to stab the fire with iron tools or sharp sticks, and it is forbidden to spit into the fire, splash water and pour dirt; When eating or drinking, throw some wine and meat into the fire to worship the god of fire.

(2) Worship the mountain

Worship the mountain. The mountain was once the dwelling place or origin of the ancestors of the clan tribe, and dominated all kinds of **. The ancient Turkic khans would go to the cave where their ancestors lived every year to kill animals and sacrifice them together with the leaders of various tribes, which was called the sacred mountain. Oroqen and Evenki hunters believe that ** belongs to the mountain god (Bai Nacha) to raise, and what kind of beasts and how much they can hunt on a daily basis depend on the mountain god. Legend has it that the mountain god can transform into a tiger or an old man to help people. It often wanders in the mountains and forests, so it goes into the mountains to hunt, and it is forbidden to make noise, so as not to offend the mountain gods; Whenever you pass through the old forests and steep cliffs, you should pray to the mountain gods for good luck. The mountain pass tree is often stripped of its bark and painted into a statue of a mountain god resembling a human face, for past hunters to bow down, offer smoke and meat, and smear animal blood and flesh fat on their mouths.

(3) Worship the sun, moon and stars, wind, rain, thunder and lightning

Worship the sun, moon and stars, wind, rain, thunder and lightning. The Evenks say that there was a white-haired old woman in the place where the sun came out, and the house was huge, and she gave all the children. The Oroqen people bow to the sun god (Delechin) every Spring Festival, and kowtow to the moon god (Beya) on the 15th or 25th day of the first lunar month to pray for a year of peace. They also believe that the Big Dipper can give people longevity, and they should also bow down. The Evenks say that the wind is caused by the old lady of the wind god in the north fanning the dustpan. The Oroqen people believed that crossing the whirlwind would offend the wind god, causing convulsions and crooked eyes. The rain god is often called the dragon lord, and there are countless scales on his body, each scale is filled with more than 100 loads of water, and the rain is the dragon lord sprinkling water. Every year, the Daur people open their nets to catch fish, and they all sacrifice to the dragon king and pray for a good harvest. The Hezhe people believe that the thunder and lightning are the actions of "Lei Gong" and "Flash Niang", Lei Gong beats the anvil to hit the demon, and Shan Niang cooperates with the mirror to look at the demon. The Oroqen people forbade approaching the trees that had been struck by lightning to avoid getting sick from offending the god of thunder. Whenever the summer rain affects the hunting, the hunters kneel down when they see the rainbow and pray for a sunny day.

5. Worship animals

The Evenki and Oroqen people are extremely in awe of bears, believing that they are their ancestors and forbidding hunting. Later, guns were introduced, and the trend of hunting bears gradually began, but whenever a bear was hunted, a ceremony was held to cut off the bear's head and put it on the tree stand, and everyone knelt down to salute it and kowtow to it and prayed: Grandpa! Are you asleep? Don't blame us, we didn't mean to hurt you, we killed you by mistake (pretending to be killed by someone of another nation). Don't be angry with us and give us more luck in the future. Bless us with more wild animals! Repeatedly kowtowed, burning grass to smoke the bear's head, thinking that in this way, the bear's soul would go away. Then pack back the bear meat. When the hunters enter their dwellings, they make a "quack" cry, and people gather around to cook bear meat on a fire, making "quack" and "coo" sounds that imitate crows as they eat. After eating, the bear bones are wrapped in wicker and carried by men to the wind burial, followed by mourners who pretend to cry. Koreans have an ancient legend that magpies are their ancestors. The Daur people sacrificed twelve Duvalan gods in large religious ceremonies, which are twelve animals that inhabit twelve species of plants.

6. Worship ancestral gods

The main body of shamanic worship. Each clan of the Oroqen people has its own ancestral gods, and most of them are male ancestors above the great-grandfather who died in the clan. The Oroqen, Evenki, Daur, Hezhe and Mongolian ethnic groups have phonetically similar or homologous names for their ancestral gods. The shaman of the clan is often called "Jiaoru" shaman, which means that it has been passed down from the ancestors. They are the shamans who are favored by the ancestral gods, the ancestral gods who are the main body of the clan, and when they hold religious ceremonies, they must respectfully invite the ancestral gods to descend and possess the body; When fighting with ghosts and gods, you must rely on the power of the ancestral gods. This is a common feature of shamanism among all ethnic groups that have survived in recent times.

Under the domination of the concept of ancestral god worship, the explanation of the ancestral god is often added to the disease of humans and animals. At the same time, special attention was paid to the signs of dreams and everyday phenomena, believing that they were the omen of the ancestral gods, so many rituals, taboos, and interpretations were prescribed.

Mountains, rivers, trees, sun, moon and stars, thunder and lightning, clouds, snow and ice, wind and rain, rainbows, and certain animals are regarded as gods who dominate nature and the world through their personified imagination and mystified spirituality. In particular, the concept of ghosts and gods formed by the spirits of ancestors and the fear caused by various diseases and deaths in the world are at the heart of the shamanic concept of gods. It is believed that all kinds of gods and spirits have the same will, desire and ** as human beings, and there is a distinction between good and evil, which cannot be disobeyed or offended. All kinds of gods and goddesses have different attributes and functions, each in its own way, each in its own way, generally equal in status, very rarely under the control, most of them have no hierarchical differences, and there is no god who dominates everything.